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Get A Life
Directed by Joao Canijo
Produced in France/Portugal, 2001
Running Time:115m
Format: 35mm
Genre: Drama
Distributor: Gemini Films


Since the early 70s, more than three million Portuguese émigrés have been living in France, most of them in the suburbs and housing projects outside Paris. They never witnessed the 1974 revolution that transformed Portugal from dictatorship to democracy, nor the attendant cultural transition. Highly conservative, the community fears anything or anybody that is different. This beatufiully rendered fiction film is one of the first to shed light on this particular emigrant community and their fears and concerns. Get a Life focuses on Cidalia and her husband, who struggle to make ends meet; she's a cleaner in a factory, he's a bartender in a neighborhood café. They work long hours for very little pay and hate their lives, but hope to build a better one for their children. Cidalia and her family's lives quickly begin to implode when their teenage son is murdered during a stand off between Portuguese youth and the French police. Cidalia, despite threats by her husband and her community to not make waves, refuses to remain silent, and fights to find those responsible no matter the cost - to herself, her family, or her community.

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